


stars ablaze like rebel diamonds

by lilevans



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Love these idiots, Muggle AU, Senior StressTM, also memey, but thats cool right, but yeah i wrote a thing and its also a projection, cuz why the flyin fuck not, jilychallenge, roadtrip au, slight angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-08
Updated: 2019-09-08
Packaged: 2020-10-12 13:04:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20564804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilevans/pseuds/lilevans
Summary: “look I may have read the map wrong and directed us into the middle of nowhere and yes we may have run out of petrol but look, i found a clearing to park the car in??? and I made a bed of blanket in the back of our car!! please don't be mad"james and lily get lost in the highlands and end up snuggling for warmth in the back seat. road trip au for august jilychallenge 2019.





	stars ablaze like rebel diamonds

**Author's Note:**

  * For [evotter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/evotter/gifts), [beaubcxton](https://archiveofourown.org/users/beaubcxton/gifts).

> [playlist here.](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5D5cR99FcvljrW66rExHL4?si=-qGKMU5RTkWs0D88H3sljw)  


STARS ABLAZE LIKE REBEL DIAMONDS

or

THE “NO VACANCY” SIGN.

* * *

**“look I may have read the map wrong and directed us into the middle of nowhere and yes we may have run out of petrol but look, i found a clearing to park the car in??? and I made a bed of blanket in the back of our car!! please don't be mad"**

**james and lily get lost in the highlands and end up snuggling for warmth in the back seat. Road trip au**

* * *

She promises his mum that they won’t get into any trouble. She took the phone when Euphemia was rambling about crochet needles and her cookies that she’d secretly packed for the trip. He’d been like a petulant child, sticking his tongue out at her as she told his mum she’d keep him in line. They’d always been like this. James and Lily, against the world, getting in trouble and lighting Sirius on fire in the science block accidentally, only to bust him out of jail the next day. Remus and Peter on the floor of her living room, playing Uno and waiting for them to come home. They’d been like this since the days of Pokémon and canteen lines and now they were fresh out of high school, nothing better to do than drive all the way to the Highlands to see James’ grandmother.

“Evans, are you sure you know how to read the map?”

She scoffs. “Of course,” even though she was currently reading east as north.

“Hmm…”

“I’m still better to drive with than Sirius, admit it,” she fiddles with the radio, before settling on the CD, and the Killers start blaring. He’s silent for a moment, lost for a comeback before he finally says “Yeah, I can’t handle it when he puts his feet on the dashboard. I clean it every week.”

“Bullshit.”

They go like this. For hours and hours on end, two best friends swapping stories and raspberry twists, all the while, James’ vintage mustang sputters along the winding road from Norwich to Blair Atholl.

//

The petrol station they stop at sells soggy fish and chips and the fuel is way too overpriced, but that’s fine, because the two park in an abandoned old park with a rusted swing set, and sit in the car with their soggy chips as it rains.

“Typical English Summer,” James mutters through ketchup and his flop of wet hair.

Lily scoffs. “Potter, it was literally one hundred degrees yesterday. Calm the fuck down.”

“What do you think we’ll do once we get to Blair Atholl?” He says instead of replying. He has an incredible ability to change the subject when he’s losing the argumentative banter, and Lily loves it a big bit, like how she loves the warmth in her stomach and the rosiness in her cheeks after a glass of wine.

“Doesn’t your Gran have a huge house?”

“Yeah. But now I’m older I’m not sure that I’m not just remembering it as big because I was… not.”

He thinks back to before he was all lankiness, legs, and awkward teenage limbs learning how to make girls fall in love with him. Back when instead of that, he was a boy running down hallways lined with expensive paintings, showing Sirius how not to be afraid when they play hide and seek.

Lily smiles softly. “I notice that too. Like, I drove past the old house with mum the other week, and I couldn’t help but feel like the roads were smaller, like I’d grown up but the streets narrowed after all the late night drives coming home as a kid.”

“Do you miss that house?” soggy chips drenched in ketchup fill his mouth again as he doesn’t really consider the gravity of the question until he’s already asked it.

She hovers over the question for a moment, letting it hang in the musty air of the car. “I think I miss the feelings within it. Happy family and running around playing games with Petunia and television programs until we’re told to go to bed.”

“Funny how we grow up and we just get a bit fucking miserable, huh?” He says. 

She only smiles. “Nah, mate. I’m not miserable. I’m eating soggy chips with my best friend.”

//

Sirius calls, demanding why they’re not coming straight to Inverness. 

“Peter’s cousin is actually _ fit  _ and I made out with her in the disabled toilets but that’s okay cuz her mum only found out this morning,”

Lily’s head is in her hands in disbelief. Only him. “Of fucking course.”

Remus cuts in before Sirius can boast about his conquests some more, instead seeking to knock him down a peg. “I would also like to inform you that Sirius vomited in the disabled toilet after said make out, and had been dancing on the tables and calling everyone in sight a MILF beforehand.”

James stifles a snort, and Lily attempts to throw him a disapproving look, but she knows she can’t because it’s too hilarious for words.

“What about you, Pete? Did you have a good night?” she shouts, knowing they’re on speaker and he won’t hear her otherwise.

She can almost hear the horror in his voice, as he shouts back, almost certainly from the toilet, “NO! I’M THE ONE WHO FOUND SIRIUS AND DAISY… MY  _ COUSIN DAISY…  _ IN THE BATHROOM.”

She pouts, biting back a laugh. “I’ll get James’ Gran to bake cookies for you as a consolation prize for that one,”

Pete has clearly grabbed the phone from Sirius to throw in some disgruntled mumbles. “You better. It’ll take years for me to erase it from my brain.”

//

Here’s the thing; James is Lily’s best friend. She’s close to Marlene and Mary and Sirius and Remus and Peter too, of course. She’d never live without them. But James, he’s this part of her that’s inexplicably silly and always there to share her dreams and he never has to guess at how she’s feeling, he just knows, somehow. And she feels it too. She knows when he’s about to punch someone before he’s even moved a muscle, she knows when there’s a pun coming out of his mouth in the next millisecond. Yet, they continuously surprise each other. He’s her best friend.

Right now, they’re screaming the words to take on me and they’re almost definitely completely out of key and out of tune, but that doesn’t really matter because they’re in his old mustang and the rain cleared up and the vibrant afternoon sky is ahead of them on the winding country road. That’s all that really matters. Never mind anything else.

//

“So,” Lily mumbles, not sure she’s ready to admit it.

“So?”

“I read north as west and we’re a tad lost.”

He looks over at her in disbelief, slams to a stop in the middle of the dirt road.

“Evans,  _ you fucking what? _ ”

“I know. I  _ know. _ ”

He snatches the map from her, scrunches up his face in concentration. “Oh. I think we just need to turn onto this road…”

“You sure?” Lil responds, not quite certain that he should be so confident.

“Okay,  _ don’t start;  _ at least I know the difference between north and west.”

She crosses her arms. “Okay fine, get us out of here, Mr.  _ ‘I know everything, _ ’”

//

“Can we stop and see this sunset?” Lily mumbles, head out the window to let cool summer afternoon breeze run through her hair. James has always liked her like that, even if he’d never admit it out loud. This was something that didn’t really need to be said.

He pulls over on the side of the road, next to an empty paddock and looks over the view of the orange-pink glow and the way Lily’s hair catches in the light. Not that he’s thinking about that. Because he definitely should not be.

“Are you just gonna take a 100 pictures of it?” he asks, hands on hips, criticising only half-seriously.

“Nope,” she shoots back, instead sitting on the wooden fence and making herself comfortable. “We’re just gonna watch it.”

James falters. “Evans… we have to hit the road again soon…” he doesn’t want to let her down.

She looks back at him. “Yeah? I’ll drive us through the night to the hotel if you’re too scared to drive yourself. I just wanna see this.”

He smiles. “You’re impossible, Lil.”

“I know.”

He joins her on the fence. “I bet they called us Danger and Trouble behind our backs at school the whole time we were there.”

Lily snorts. “Bullshit,” then, after a pause, “Which one’s which?”

“I’m Danger, clearly.” He responds smugly. She hits him indignantly.

“That’s Sirius and we both know it. You two are the duo that are Danger and Trouble.”

“Yeah, but you’re our behind the desk guy.”

“Only if Remus takes over when I go on holiday to the Caribbean.”

He smiles, shrugging. “Sure.”

//

A weird thing happened the night after they finished school. Not that either of them would ever mention it. Both drunk, after the senior after party, in the back seat of Remus’ car as he drove them home, holding hands and falling asleep on each other. Nothing new. Until they got back to Lily’s house, of course.

Lily had kicked open the door, they’d fallen onto her floor and had proceeded to eat cheetos and play go fish and listen to The Academic on her old CD player. Same as always.

“You know how you’re gonna go on a date with Adrian McNichol after our road trip?” He’d asked, knowing that their road trip was still a month away. He didn’t really know  _ why  _ he was asking, but that had never stopped him before.

“Yeah? Also do you have any threes?”

“Go fish… Yeah so… what if you didn’t… do that…”

She looked up at him through her cards, pretending the room wasn’t swaying.

“Why would I do that?” A pause, while Lily frowns, incredulous, then;

Potter, what’s wrong?”

“I just… I think he’s a dickhead.” He had said decidedly, even though,  _ decidedly,  _ that wasn’t the truth. “Do you have any Kings?”

She sighed and shuffled her cards in annoyance, reluctantly handing them over. “You barely know Adrian, James. And besides, I thought you’d be relieved that he’s not Snape.”

“Well.. Yeah. I just…” he trailed off, drunk and for once in his damn life, lost for words.

“You just…?” Lily’s heart, for some unknown reason was beating unsteadily fast. In all the time that she’s known him, whenever he’s been this tender, he’s told her why  _ eventually. _ She had a feeling that perhaps he wasn’t going to this time. She picked up a card.

“Forget about it, Lil. I’m gonna go to sleep.” He then said abruptly, revealing that he had a full set of queens the whole time. Clambering into the spare bed by the window, James had something that Lily’s drunken brain did not remember. She went to sleep. He didn’t.

//

“Isn’t it weird?” she’s still staring at the sunset, pretending not to be thinking about  _ that night.  _ There’s some weird unspoken promise that they shouldn’t talk about it. So she doesn’t say a word.

“What’s weird? That we drink cow titty milk?” he suggests wildly, knowing full well that she's not asking about it. She giggles.

“Or that Peter once licked Sirius’ toe jam for a dare? That the earth is just a huge rock?” _That we’re not talking about _**_it._** He thinks. He’d never speak about it.

“No, you idiot. That we’re done with school now. Like, forever. We don’t have to stay in our shitty little village for a second longer if we don’t want to. The world is so big and scary but it’s kinda like…  _ ours _ now.”

“Hmmm…” he murmurs in agreement, thinking that perhaps he likes the sound of having a whole world to explore with her, his Lil, the girl making him sit on a fence in a cow paddock to watch the sunset.

They’re still around forty minutes outside of Darlington, the town they plan on stopping in for the night, but maybe James shouldn’t be thinking about that.

He’s never been good at the ‘thinking before you do something’ thing, so he reaches out and grabs her hand to tell her it’s going to be okay without actually recognising it as a thought.

“We’re gonna be okay, you know Lil.”

“Yeah. I’ve got Remus and Peter.” She sticks her tongue out at him.

“And Sirius.”

“Yeah, he’s alright too.”

She wants to thank him, because no matter how shit of a day she’s having he’s always there and he can make her smile because he’ll mention  _ cow titty milk  _ and he’s her best friend and maybe she wants to kiss him and she doesn’t know how to find the words.

“And, you know, now I don’t have to live in a house with a sister that may as well not be my sister,” she remarks, because  _ it’s true it’s true she doesn’t have to sit in a house and cry because her sister used to love her.  _

“Yeah. And maybe now that means you’ll let me put snails in her bed.” He giggles boyishly.

Lily wrinkles her nose at him. “You know I can’t let you do that.” James carelessly throughs an arm around her. “Yeah, I know.”

She leans into him, heads touching, resting there for a moment. Something about that feels so sacred, so strange in the moment as the last of the sun goes down. They’ve forgotten how long they’ve been sitting on the fence, forgotten that they left the car lights on.

He thinks he may have been sitting here, holding her hand and resting his head on hers forever before he actually clocks that it’s dark.

“Whoa, Lil, when did this happen?” he mumbles, reaching for the car keys.

She takes her head of his shoulder and without a moment’s hesitation, turns around and jumps off the fence, ignoring the numbness in her bum.

“I don’t know. Oh god, I didn’t mean for us to stay this long. I’m so sorry.”

“Nah, it’s all good.”

Bleary eyed, they head back to the car, turn the key in the ignition. It doesn’t start.

“Fuck,” James mumbles, trying desperately not to panic Lily.

“Fuck,” she simply responds. “ _ Fuck. _ ” Then, after a beat, “At least we’re not in the middle of the road. We could always crash here for the night.”

James blinks at her incredulously. “Lily, what?”

“Look, I know this is my fault,  _ please  _ don’t be mad at me, if I hadn’t gotten us lost or made you stop for the sunset and forgot to turn the lights off this wouldn’t be happening.”

He looks at her, folds his arms. “Yes. All of that is correct.”

“I’m sorry. Give me 5 minutes and I can make it up to you… just, close your eyes.”

James screws his face up at her. “Why should I trust you after the mess you’ve gotten us into?”

Her green eyes bore into his in the muted light of the car, freckles splattered and blurring together as their noses almost touch.

“Because I’m your best friend and we always get ourselves out of this.”

He rolls his eyes, relaxing back in the driver’s seat. “Fair call. Work your magic, Evans.” 

//

It was 2am when she’d woken up that night, found him in the backyard. He was considerably more sober than he’d been during Go Fish, but still withdrawn, strange.

“James… you’re scaring me,” Lily murmured, joining him where he was sitting on the grass.

“I don’t think I know anything, Evans.” He said, simply.

“You know how to beat me at Go Fish,” she shot back, desperate to see him smile. 

He did, just a small whisper of a grin. “But I don’t know what I’m gonna do with the rest of my life, Lil.”

Her hand slid into his, effortlessly, as if she didn’t think about it, but cautiously, as if waiting to be turned away. Like when you touch an electric fence, and for a second you wait for the shock, only to realise it’s not turned on. That had happened once, when they were 10. She’d told him not to touch the electric fence, hoping he would anyway, and it wasn’t even on. (He did again when it was on, and never again. Electric fences weren’t worth it.)

“You don’t have to know that now,” she whispered, head on his shoulder. “None of us do.”

She could still smell beer on his breath, but the aftermath of it, the beginnings of a hangover.

“I bet you know, though Evans. You know  _ everything. _ ” He muttered.

“No, Potter. I know nothing, just like you.” She said back, looking up at him, green sleepy eyes into dishevelled, drunk hazel ones. On a normal day, she’d never admit that, never let him know, but on normal days he wasn’t drunk and tender and in need of honesty.

“I know nothing, but you’re my best friend and you and me and Sirius and Remus and Peter and Marlene are gonna figure it out together.” She said, instead of anything else sarcastic that she would have conjured up if she dared to.

“I love you.” He blurted out suddenly. Not in response to anything she had said, but just because he could. Because he was drunk and it was true.

“I love you too.” She responded, truthfully. “We’re gonna be okay, Jim.” Again, truthfully.

He was looking at her, in this awful, beautiful way he had never looked at her before. She could feel that he was close to her, fingers touching her waist, other hand touching her face, electricity… she was wrong, she had indeed touched the electric fence, it was turned on, his fingers carrying the current and it was pulsing through her like a bolt of lightning. She was the tree hit during the storm. Alight.

His throat was dangerously close to hers, everything too close, too much, he was her best friend but she had never wanted anything this badly, what could be the worst thing if they closed this gap –

Cracked lips tasting like cherry lip balm and warm ones tasting like pale ale, crashing and fingers intertwined and wet grass in the summer night after their graduation.

Forgotten, never spoken of again.

//

“Okay, you can open your eyes again now.”

She’d strung up fairy lights she’d bought for a DIY project for his Gran; the bedding they’d brought with them was set up perfectly in the boot, pillows at the wrong end so they could stargaze all night.

“I don’t like it.” He smirks, clearly very much in love with it all, very much in love with her, very much not saying it out loud. That’s how people ruin things. They say it out loud.

“Are you still mad?” her eyes are wide, doe-like, air of cheekiness and mischief still in her eyes, because she  _ knows  _ he can’t stay mad at her, and he knows she soaks up all of the fun of it whenever she can.

“You did alright,” he shrugs. Without another word, she grabs his hand and pulls him into the back of the car, flopping down to look at the stars, tossing him a pack of cheetos and her iPod shuffle.

“Better than alright.”

“We’re missing Go Fish. Or Uno.” He quips back.

“Is anything _ ever  _ good enough for you, Potter?”

“Nope.”

//

“Okay, but seriously; Squirtle or Evie; PURELY on cuteness?”

“C’mon, Evans, that’s not  _ fair.  _ That’s like putting me in a room full of Labrador puppies and asking me to just pick one.”

“You’d pick the dumb one,”

“ _ Fuck,  _ you’re right. Squirtle it is.”

//

“Oh, I texted the group chat, hopefully one of them will come find us in the morning to jumpstart the car. They’re only about an hour away from here.”

Lily nods, eyes averted to the splattered, spangled sky of blue and stars, a million miles away. She thinks that perhaps the freckles on James’ arms, jaw, and stomach are so much closer and so much prettier than stars when you see them in sunlight. She wonders if that’s overdramatic of her.

“Does it make you sad sometimes?” he asks, clearly not asking about his freckles.

“What?” she turns over and looks at him, trying to focus on the stupid words he’s saying and not the stupid, stupid freckles.

“Snape moved away. I mean, I hate him…” she’s looking at him with those big, sad eyes and he sort of wants to melt. Sirius would call him a stupid git for not telling her then and there, if Sirius were actually here.

“…I hate him but I know you loved him. Despite everything.”

She purses her lips. “It doesn’t really matter. The part of my life he was in is over, and it isn’t going to come back. But, yeah, I never got that closure, I never really said what I needed to, and I didn’t say  _ goodbye. _ ”

They shift again, both lying on their backs, stars overhead. His hand grazes hers, asking for permission. Their fingers intertwine.

“I get it. I’m sorry. I was probably too hard on you when you were friends with him, I guess.”

She sighs. “No,” Then, after a pause. “You boys have always been just what I needed. Even if I thought I didn’t even want it, I’ve always  _ needed  _ you.”

“Ditto. When Dad died, I thought I didn’t need anyone, that Sirius was the only one who understood what I was going through but… even when I didn’t want you, I needed you. And you let me.”

Lily smiles, gently. “We made that pact when we were 13, remember? We’re in too deep to ever let go.”

He laughs, full-bellied. “We were  _ so  _ fucking naïve then, fucking Christ.”

“I  _ know. _ Imagine being 13 and thinking  _ that  _ was in too deep.”

James throws his head back. “I wish we could go back to that.”

Lily looks at him. “Me too.”

He thinks for a split second, doesn’t consider the consequences, because  _ when, in 18 years has he ever done that _ , and says, “I don’t think you should go on that date with Adrian.”

She sits up jerkily, propping herself up on her elbows. “Why?”

He sits up too, eyes ablaze and desperate to prove his point. “He’s a dickhead!”

Green eyes widen eyebrows narrow, and Lily gears up for a fight. “What is your  _ problem?  _ What’s really going on, Potter?” Then, more softly, “Jim…”

“Let’s not talk about it.” He protests, decidedly angry, getting off the car and heading towards the paddock, where they watched the sunset only hours before. “Forget I said anything.”

“No, James,” she mumbles, fiery, determined, and  _ oh god  _ he can’t stay all angry and filled with that angst when she’s there, grabbing his wrist and pulling him back to the car. “Let’s talk about it.”

There’s an awful pause, sitting on the car where they’d been stargazing moments ago, drowning in her eyes and for once,  _ once  _ in his goddamn life, James is lost for words, struggling to say what he means

“We’re best friends, Evans.” He chokes out.

“I know,” she mumbles, confused.

“And we kissed after school finished and we never talked about it,  _ why didn’t we talk about it, Lil? _ ”

She swallows, also lost for words. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know that we could have. I thought it would have been best…”

His eyes harden. “Yeah, it would have.”

She inches away from him slightly, in shock. “I’m sorry?”

“We’re best friends and we used to play Pokémon together and kissed when we were 12 for truth or dare. We spent our afternoons as 14 year olds playing the Play-station with the boys and I let you paint my nails. And you drive me crazy with your perfume and the way you want to do  _ everything  _ crazy you can think of, and you agreed to go on this dumb road trip with me to see my Gran. And I kissed you when I was drunk, and I wish I was doing it all the time, but you’re my best friend. So I can’t.”

He’s spoken too quickly, said too much; this is why he didn’t want to talk about it. He’s hurtling towards the fence, maybe he’ll jump it, get away from her, but before he can do anything--

She’s caught his wrist again. She’s the electric fence, the bolt of lightning this time. He’s just a long limbed tree caught in the crossfire of the storm. Alight.

And she’s kissing him, like he’s not just a best friend. Well, he hopes she’s not kissing Sirius or Remus like this. Because she’s kissing him like time has stopped.

Because he’s James, her best friend who taught her how to tie knots and her shoelaces and he cares so much about people and politics and making the world better, making his friends happy, making himself better, and by god, he makes  _ her  _ better and she’s probably wanted to kiss him for a lot longer than she’s let herself believe.

Her arms snake around his neck, his face, anywhere she wants.

“I told you I loved you that night,” he mumbles as he pulls away from her for a moment, eyes soft.

“Did you mean it?”

He rolls his eyes. “Potters don’t lie.”

She smirks. “You’re so full of shit.”

She kisses him again before he can come up with another excuse.

//

They’re awoken the next morning with a jerky, uneven and continuous honk of a horn, as Sirius smirks, watching Remus rolls his eyes as he presses his hand to the steering wheel. Peter is somehow still asleep, headphones blaring.

Lily jolts awake, frowning and flipping Sirius off from her spot in the back of the car. She fell asleep cuddling into James’ side, his arm around her to keep her warm. He seems just as pissed off at being rudely awaken the same way she does.

“OI! Fuckheads!” Sirius shouts, leaning over Remus and honking the horn for an extra flare of dramatic effect.

James throws something at the car. He thinks it’s a blanket.

Remus steps out of the car. “We got your message.”

James gestures vaguely to him. “We’d gathered that, funnily enough.”

Sirius joins him, walking up to the open boot where James and Lily are tangled. “How the fuck did you manage to sleep like this?” he asks, not really wanting an answer.

“Your dad said to leave the car here and we’d take you the rest of the way to Blair Atholl. It’s only about 4 and a half hours from here.” Remus shrugs, vaguely motioning for James and Lily to move to the other car. Lily silently disdains at the thought of 5 hours in a cramped, loaded car.

James’ hand slides into hers.

“Sure thing, mate. Just give us 10 to get our stuff.”

Then she thinks it might not be so bad.

“How were the stars last night?” Remus asks.

“Worth not being able to stay in a hotel,” Lily mumbles, climbing into the car. Remus shoots her a smile.

“Don’t worry, we drove past that hotel on the way to get you guys. There were no vacancies anyway. Just as well we didn’t get here until now.”

He glances down, as James follows her into the car, still gripping her hand like a lifeline.

//

Blair Atholl is dreary. She doesn’t have any other way to describe it except dreary and absolutely the best place on earth. The streets are lined with lampposts and small shops like grocer’s and newsagents and milk bars, the park looks like it has not been touched in years, and yet, there’s a thought in Lily’s head.  _ This is where James’ family is from.  _ So of course, it feels a little bit at peace, because James is next to her telling her stories from when he was six years old and he first took Sirius to meet his grandmother in that big old house.

The driveway is longer than the entire street she grew up on, but just as narrow. Remus makes James drive up it because he’s the only one who knows how, and Sirius screams the words to toxic by Britney Spears the whole time, encouraging him to crash the damn car.

//

Lily gets the impression from Sirius that James’ gran is someone threatening and probably over protective, but when she introduces herself, his gran flings her arms open and throws her into a hug.

“I’ve heard a lot about you! My boys never shut about you!”

Her heart swells when she says  _ my boys.  _ Someone else loves Sirius like family like she does, like James does.

Gran has this twinkle in her eye, acting as if she knows something that Lily doesn’t as she hugs everyone in turn, inviting them in for cookies.

“So,” she says, settling down by the fire, Scottish accent sounding less harsh by the minute.

“How long were you ‘just friends’ with her before you realised, my boy?” She sternly looks at James, before pointedly gesturing to his hand, still encased in Lily’s.

Lily swallows. “Well, go fish can do weird things to people when you’re drunk and you’ve just finished school.”

//

Bathroom, corner of the house, she’s washing her hands when he comes up behind her.

“What are we now?” He whispers, unsure if he wants to know the answer.

She thinks about it for a moment, leaning against the sink. “I want to be with you. Like. Romantically.” She can’t breathe as she says it, she wonders how long she’s wanted to say that, how long she’s put it off, pushed it down, tossed it aside. But god, how  _ right _ it feels.

“Oh, cool. Me too.” He smirks, inconsequentially. “So, not just friends, then?”

She kisses him, twisting so she’s pushed him against the sink.

“God, you’re an idiot.”

//

Him, her, the boys, Gran, this big, wonderful house, in a quaint little down. Her heart needed to put up a “no vacancy” sign of its own because it was full of  _ him, him, him.  _


End file.
